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Season Tickets 2015/16 - ST sales have now ended


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FarmerTweedy

We've just not been trying to fill the stadium up till now. If only we'd thought of it!

If you look at the conduct of both Robinson and Romanov over the years they ran the club, it's actually almost easier to believe they were actively trying to drive people away rather than attract them to the club.

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FarmerTweedy

So once every few year we miss out on 250k. In the mean time we pay X million on capital repayment and interest for a daft over investment. There is already one white elephant in Edinburgh.

A new main stand taking the capacity to 20k is all we need, and some.

We could probably have had more than 20k at some games last season. We could probably have more than 20k at a good few at least next season. 20k is less than we need and... errr... some!

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Watt-Zeefuik

25 - 30 years ago we had a stadium that held 29,000 and a much better team on the park.  It was full once in a blue moon, and regularly around 2/3 empty.  History shows us, even when we were competing for league titles that we don't need a 30,000 stadium - what's changed in 2015?  We'd have to be playing teams in the English Premier League or European ties week in week out for that demand and we know that's never going to happen.

 

Average attendances are here:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Heart_of_Midlothian_F.C._seasons

 

Note that those high quality teams of the 80s were following a period where average attendances dipped below 6k.  In a couple of years, attendances had nearly tripled.

 

People don't become die-hard fans overnight -- every successful season you pick up a few, and every down season you lose a few.  If you're generally successful over a 10 year period, a team of the same quality at the end of that period will draw more fans than a team at the beginning of that period.  Evidence -- in 1996-97 we had just been to a big cup final. Average attendance was 12.3k.  15 years later after three big cups, during the McGlynn year and the admin year we had average attendance of 13.1k and 14.1k despite a far inferior product on the field.

 

I think when it comes to growth, folk forget how infectious a rocking Tynecastle is.  You come once when things are going well and you want to keep coming back.

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Hackney Hearts

Far more evidence to suggest that 20k is sufficient - our average crowds throughout our history.  Maybe London Hearts would be able to confirm if we've ever averaged over 20k for a league campaign. 

 

Of course we have! Every season post WW2 to 1961 (and a couple of times pre WW2)?

 

There were 6 years in a row where our average attendance was higher than Celtic's (1955-1961) - so you can't always predict the future just by looking at history.

 

There were actually a couple of years (late 1940s I think) where our average was roughly 28,000.

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Footballfirst

According to Celtic fans I have spoken to they reckon the average attendance at Celtic Park over the last couple of seasons has probably been around 25,000, if that. The season just ended the upper tier was only open for 1 league match, and their ST sales were just over 30,000. Since redevelopment both Celtic Park and Ibrox have significantly smaller capacities than they originally had, both grounds held in excess of 80,000. Attendances given out at games don't reflect how many people are inside the stadium, for example our last league match at Parkhead the attendance given out had everyone on the bus laughing on the way home. It was declared as just short of 47,000 and I don' think there was even 20,000 in the stadium.

 

Celtic reported two figures for ST sales in 2013/14, the first of 41,657 and the second of 43,072.  I assume that the latter figure includes 1/2 Season tickets or hospitality STs. Either way it was a reasonable number which was up on the previous season because of a ?100 discount.

 

In their 2014 accounts they stated (for season 2014/15) "Season tickets sales are currently slightly lower than last year".  I can't see that being as anything close to 30K.  Their average league attendance lat season was 44,585, with the lowest being 41,719. Given that ST sales will be included in that figure I can't see their ST sales having been below 38K.

 

They retained the ?100 discount last season, but I think that their ST holders picked the games to attend much more than previously, hence the empty spaces.

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FarmerTweedy

Far more evidence to suggest that 20k is sufficient - our average crowds throughout our history.  Maybe London Hearts would be able to confirm if we've ever averaged over 20k for a league campaign.  We probably have, where the occasional huge crowds against Hibs and the OFartificially bumped up the more normal crowds.  Depends what your point of view is - you might argue that if we get 15,000 for every game but there is demand for 30,000 for one New Year derby or a European tie that means 20k isn't sufficient but I don't think many would argue that it is worth borrowing and wasting millions to achieve that.  Plus it would be absolutely shite and Hibsesque to have 10,000-15,000 empty seats most weeks.

But we won't be playing games in the past, we'll be playing them in the future. It would be a mistake to look at what's happened in the past and just assume that the future will follow the same path. There are a huge number of things that are different now and will be more different in the future that will have an influence on attendances. Ignoring those factors would be folly!

 

FWIW, and I've said this a number of times now, so apologies if it's getting boring, but I think one of the few things we can be certain about is the fact that there's not actually a lot we can be certain about! That's why I've been saying that we shouldn't look to expand the capacity too much in the short to medium term (22-23k would be sensible IMO), but must ensure that there is scope for further development afterwards if circumstances justify it. It's really not at all far-fetched to suggest that we could regularly be getting crowds in the region of 18-20k in the next two or three seasons if we had the capacity - we averaged around 16k last season in the Championship - and with Edinburgh's population predicted to grow by around 25% in the next couple of decades or so, it really isn't, despite what some people say, at all unreasonable to suggest that our support could grow by a similar percentage over that period. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, which is why I wouldn't argue in favour of building capacity to cope with the best case scenario for 20-25 years from now straight away, but it would be extremely short-sighted not to allow for future development in any plans made over the next few years.

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Francis Albert

25 - 30 years ago we had a stadium that held 29,000 and a much better team on the park.  It was full once in a blue moon, and regularly around 2/3 empty.  History shows us, even when we were competing for league titles that we don't need a 30,000 stadium - what's changed in 2015?  We'd have to be playing teams in the English Premier League or European ties week in week out for that demand and we know that's never going to happen.

Our average crowds and revenue and hence our ability to compete would have been much reduced if our stadium had not been able to accommodate crowds bigger than 20,000 when we were competing for and winning titles and cups regularly.

 

With the attitude of many on here we would still be playing in the Meadows and we certainly would not have had the benefit of our current main stand for the last 100 years and counting.

 

Certainly for a new development, economics do not require every seat  to be sold for every game to justify the investment in more seats. And the "atmosphere" which seems these days to worry people so much can be as good in a half to two thirds stadium as in a full one, as I have experienced in over 50 years in which the capacity of Tynecastle has varied from 49,000 to 17,000.

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I read on another thread that overseas fans are concerned at missing out On tickets this season and are thinking about buying a ST even though it may be empty a lot of the season. It was in relation to whether there may be some sort of FoH contributor preference when it comes to buying individual match tickets.

Is this a scenario where a 6 game package ST might be useful? Sell them if there's still availability after full ST sales? I thought that's what Aberdeen had planned but hadn't realised they had that option up front, which I don't think is as good an option.

I'm sure if those mentioned above are quick enough off the mark when match tickets go on sale they'll be ok but was just having a think about the options out there and if they could be better

It was me on that thread and it was more about larger pledgers who live overseas. Personally I donate very much more than the cost of a season ticket. On thinking about it the club will ensure I get in for any given game I am able to attend. I imagine they feel a duty of care to people like me. My next game is ICT on 5th December.

On this thread people ask where the money is coming from for a (hopefully) 28,000 capacity Romanov design. Two place IMO

1. Major Sponsorship.

2. Public money.

Why should we be any different for a top twenty British club???

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scott herbertson

But we won't be playing games in the past, we'll be playing them in the future. It would be a mistake to look at what's happened in the past and just assume that the future will follow the same path. There are a huge number of things that are different now and will be more different in the future that will have an influence on attendances. Ignoring those factors would be folly!

 

FWIW, and I've said this a number of times now, so apologies if it's getting boring, but I think one of the few things we can be certain about is the fact that there's not actually a lot we can be certain about! That's why I've been saying that we shouldn't look to expand the capacity too much in the short to medium term (22-23k would be sensible IMO), but must ensure that there is scope for further development afterwards if circumstances justify it. It's really not at all far-fetched to suggest that we could regularly be getting crowds in the region of 18-20k in the next two or three seasons if we had the capacity - we averaged around 16k last season in the Championship - and with Edinburgh's population predicted to grow by around 25% in the next couple of decades or so, it really isn't, despite what some people say, at all unreasonable to suggest that our support could grow by a similar percentage over that period. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, which is why I wouldn't argue in favour of building capacity to cope with the best case scenario for 20-25 years from now straight away, but it would be extremely short-sighted not to allow for future development in any plans made over the next few years.

 

 

An excellent post FT

 

If you add in FA's points about atmosphere vs crowds and the averaging out factor these all support a graduated and pragmatic approach towards a higher capacity.

 

By pragmatic I mean the careful, measured and analytic approach which Budge and co are indicating is their present stance.

 

I hope the opportunity arises to get us eventually to a higher capacity but we shouldn't get ourselves into a financial mess doing so.

 

One factor  which additional supports a larger capacity, even a slightly larger one at 21/22 K is that we would also become place of choice for some international matches - even at one or two a season it represents additional income

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johnking123

Soon as we pay off Ann in a few years time. We use the FOH money and say 50% of player sale to pay of the stand. Say only 50% because we still have to reinvest in the team. That was hibs down fall.

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I think when it comes to growth, folk forget how infectious a rocking Tynecastle is.  You come once when things are going well and you want to keep coming back.

This ugly American went to one game at Tynecastle a month and a half ago and is now FoH and a season ticket holder, from Arizona.  Hah!

 

You are so right.  Dunno what it was, but infectious is the perfect word for it.

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scott herbertson

This ugly American went to one game at Tynecastle a month and a half ago and is now FoH and a season ticket holder, from Arizona.  Hah!

 

You are so right.  Dunno what it was, but infectious is the perfect word for it.

 

 

You should get around more

 

Try a holiday in Beverley Hills next and infect some of those wealthy celebs please

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If you look at the conduct of both Robinson and Romanov over the years they ran the club, it's actually almost easier to believe they were actively trying to drive people away rather than attract them to the club.

 

Yeah....no.

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Dalstonjambo

Soon as we pay off Ann in a few years time. We use the FOH money and say 50% of player sale to pay of the stand. Say only 50% because we still have to reinvest in the team. That was hibs down fall.

How much are we selling these players for?!

 

Given a stand will cost upwards of 8 million we'd either have to have a world class youngster or sell 4/5 at 2 million each to use half of it for a stand. 

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johnking123

How much are we selling these players for?!

 

Given a stand will cost upwards of 8 million we'd either have to have a world class youngster or sell 4/5 at 2 million each to use half of it for a stand.

New stand will 14 million or more! Does not matter how much we sell the players. Just make a good % goes to paying off our debt.
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I can't stand all the backward-looking, past-average-counting, glass-half-empty defeatist (realist, no defeatist) chat. If you keep reducing the size of your stadium, guess what: the average attendance will get smaller too. Build a 20,000 capacity Tynecastle and we'll never see 28,000+ attendance for Hearts v the likes of Siroki Brijeg, or 28K+ at Hearts v Hibs for that matter. To suggest we are a small club with not very many supporters is defeatist and factually incorrect. This mentality that we are small and will never grow bigger than we are at present GUTS me, it depresses me to hear such a lack of ambition. For the love of Hearts, HAVE SOME AMBITION!

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I can't stand all the backward-looking, past-average-counting, glass-half-empty defeatist (realist, no defeatist) chat. If you keep reducing the size of your stadium, guess what: the average attendance will get smaller too. Build a 20,000 capacity Tynecastle and we'll never see 28,000+ attendance for Hearts v the likes of Siroki Brijeg, or 28K+ at Hearts v Hibs for that matter. To suggest we are a small club with not very many supporters is defeatist and factually incorrect. This mentality that we are small and will never grow bigger than we are at present GUTS me, it depresses me to hear such a lack of ambition. For the love of Hearts, HAVE SOME AMBITION!

 

Mercer = Ambition = Debt

Robinson/Deans = Ambition = More Debt

Romanov = Ambition = More Debt

 

That's the financial history of the club for the past 35 years.

 

Five minutes after the club is almost liquidated and you'd have us pile on another load of totally unsustainable debt. It's vainglorious madness.

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johnking123

Mercer = Ambition = Debt

Robinson/Deans = Ambition = More Debt

Romanov = Ambition = More Debt

 

That's the financial history of the club for the past 35 years.

 

Five minutes after the club is almost liquidated and you'd have us pile on another load of totally unsustainable debt. It's vainglorious madness.

No matter what we do. We are going to end up in debt again unfortunately. Wether it's a new standard or new stadium. Just have to be a bit more sensible paying it off this time!

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No matter what we do. We are going to end up in debt again unfortunately. Wether it's a new standard or new stadium. Just have to be a bit more sensible paying it off this time!

 

There is debt, and then there is unservicable debt.

 

The benefits of a bigger stadium woulnt make the debt it necessitates serviceable. It's that sort of thinking - precisely that sort of thinking - that nearly killed the club. 

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Lots of talk about stadium capacity. What needs to be done is what any business does particularly nowadays is conduct a survey to gauge what the support/customer base is and what the expected ST medium is. Look at the size of opposition travelling support and what numbers they bring on a regular basis. Realistically only 3 teams will or could fill one end of the ground whilst the rest may a best fill 1/2 and end. Certainly look at past trends and factor them in to the final analysis and I'm sure you will come up with a realistic capacity for a stadium.

My option would be to rebuild the main stand and in doing so raise the capacity to 20-22k and incorporate decent facilities between the stand and the school. With a bit of imaginative thinking the other 3 stands can be tweaked to make it more user friendly.

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FarmerTweedy

There is debt, and then there is unservicable debt.

 

The benefits of a bigger stadium woulnt make the debt it necessitates serviceable. It's that sort of thinking - precisely that sort of thinking - that nearly killed the club.

 

It isn't, actually. What nearly killed the club was spending money we couldn't afford on players, in the vain hope that success on the field would generate returns in excess of the level of spending, combined with a mistaken expectation that revenue from media deals would grow massively. That's very different from borrowing for capital expenditure with careful budgeting to ensure that the club can afford to make the necessary repayments.

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johnking123

There is debt, and then there is unservicable debt.

 

The benefits of a bigger stadium woulnt make the debt it necessitates serviceable. It's that sort of thinking - precisely that sort of thinking - that nearly killed the club.

I'm pretty sure Ann is fully aware of this. As I say, this where our FOH money comes in. Think it adds up to more than ?1.5 million a year. Using a million a year of it to pay of mortgage should not hurt club.

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I'm pretty sure Ann is fully aware of this. As I say, this where our FOH money comes in. Think it adds up to more than ?1.5 million a year. Using a million a year of it to pay of mortgage should not hurt club.

 

If the increased attendance doesn't pay for the stand, then why build the stand?

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It isn't, actually. What nearly killed the club was spending money we couldn't afford on players, in the vain hope that success on the field would generate returns in excess of the level of spending, combined with a mistaken expectation that revenue from media deals would grow massively. That's very different from borrowing for capital expenditure with careful budgeting to ensure that the club can afford to make the necessary repayments.

 

It's speculate to accumulate. And the benefits of increasing the capacity beyond a few thousand are utterly minimal.

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johnking123

So more people can come and enjoy watching heart of midlothian! We could most likely pay it off if done sensible. But would would remove money from playing budget.

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FarmerTweedy

If the increased attendance doesn't pay for the stand, then why build the stand?

Why wouldn't it?

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So more people can come and enjoy watching heart of midlothian! We could most likely pay it off if done sensible. But would would remove money from playing budget.

 

If it doesn't pay for itself, then it shouldn't be built. That's financial suicide. As you say, it would come from elsewhere in the budget, so let's make a better use of our money.

 

And there's no struggle to get tickets to see almost any game, so building a bigger stadium won't really let more people come see us. People don't come because they don't want to, not because they can't.

 

We could do it, sure. But why - it wouldn't make us more money, in fact it would cost us overall, and it wouldn't really enable many more fans to see us. We could do it, but we shouldn't. If there's demand for a markedly bigger stadium it'll get built. But there isn't.

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FarmerTweedy

It's speculate to accumulate. And the benefits of increasing the capacity beyond a few thousand are utterly minimal.

It's carefully considered capital investment.

 

And they're not minimal.

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Why wouldn't it?

 

Because we rarely sell out as it is.

 

Why would it?

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It's carefully consideed capital investment.

 

And they're not minimal.

 

So was signing Fitzroy Simpson at the time.

 

And no, they're not minimal. They're imaginary. 

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FarmerTweedy

Because we rarely sell out as it is.

 

Why would it?

We sold out several times last season, have done so numerous times in previous seasons, and are likely to do so regularly next season.

 

Revenues from additional ticket sales, hospitality sales, etc would likely be enough to cover paying off the cost in the short to medium term, after which that revenue could be invested into other aspects of the club.

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FarmerTweedy

So was signing Fitzroy Simpson at the time.

 

And no, they're not minimal. They're imaginary.

 

Recruiting employees is not capital investment.

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The old main stand isn't fit for purpose anymore unfortunately. We're losing out on additional income from the larger games, hospitality opportunities, bars, etc. apart from all else it needs flattened and is a drain on resources by all accounts. It's not befitting a club like Hearts in the 21st century. I also believe that by creating a larger and better stadium with all of the above that it will attract more fans to the games.

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We sold out several times last season, have done so numerous times in previous seasons, and are likely to do so regularly next season.

 

Revenues from additional ticket sales, hospitality sales, etc would likely be enough to cover paying off the cost in the short to medium term, after which that revenue could be invested into other aspects of the club.

 

Ah, so historical records of crowds are viable, but only when we've got a succesful team and everything is going swimmingly? What about all the other seasons where we don't get crowds above 13k - because that's the reality for the majority of the time. 

 

We won't be in a position to make the numbers work for anything above 21k or so over a long period of time. It's just not possible, you're just cherry picking. Even then we weren't in a position where we could've sold many more seats for any game, let alone 7k more seats.

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Recruiting employees is not capital investment.

 

Your point is still wrong. That's the only response you can give, which let's me know that you accept this too.

 

It's nothing more than the same vainglorious ******-swinging that got us into three decades of hand to mouth existence.

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Lord Beni of Gorgie

Plenty English sides built new stadia and didn't fill them. I reckon the 17k does us 90% of the time. Do you therefore want to appease the 10% who only want to turn up for big matches? Though we are almost sold out for many matches over the past few years, quite often we aren't and I do question where the extra 8k would come from, regularly, and that is the key, regularly, not hand picked matches fondly remembered.

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Fxxx the SPFL

some posters are missing the key issue here and that is the main stand is not fit for purpose and is a drain on the clubs resources, something has to be done and it is purely down to timing the longer we wait the more we spend to maintain it and the more a new stand will cost. We either bite the bullet and go for a stand that takes us up to 20k-22k with room for expansion if required in the future. I am sure with the financial people in and around Tynecastle at present have the where with all to push this forward with costing's long term mortgage which we may not require if we could come to naming rights, business involvement etc. The old stand issue is not going to go away and at some point it must be resolved.

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FarmerTweedy

Your point is still wrong. That's the only response you can give, which let's me know that you accept this too.

 

It's nothing more than the same vainglorious ******-swinging that got us into three decades of hand to mouth existence.

It isn't, and your post confirms that you're not actually trying to argue a point you believe in, but just arguing with people for the sake of it, much like you've done on many other threads. It's a wonder you don't get bored of it!

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H & J gone red.

 

Anyone know how H went so quick, or has it been pulled for some reason?

...and they're back!

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Should all of this not be in the Stadium Update thread, this thread is for updates on how season ticket sales are going

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johnking123

some posters are missing the key issue here and that is the main stand is not fit for purpose and is a drain on the clubs resources, something has to be done and it is purely down to timing the longer we wait the more we spend to maintain it and the more a new stand will cost. We either bite the bullet and go for a stand that takes us up to 20k-22k with room for expansion if required in the future. I am sure with the financial people in and around Tynecastle at present have the where with all to push this forward with costing's long term mortgage which we may not require if we could come to naming rights, business involvement etc. The old stand issue is not going to go away and at some point it must be resolved.

22000 to 23000 would be a good size stadium for us. Main stand is costing us over quarter a million a season to keep running. Would be nice to be able to build bigger in the future if needed. Bigger wheatfield stand. Tinkering with the other stands to make it easier. But main stand is priority.

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Should all of this not be in the Stadium Update thread, this thread is for updates on how season ticket sales are going

You would have thought so, but now every thread seems to degenerate into pointless bickering, whether relevant to the thread or not

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johnking123

Should all of this not be in the Stadium Update thread, this thread is for updates on how season ticket sales are going

Sorry, correct!
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FarmerTweedy

Should all of this not be in the Stadium Update thread, this thread is for updates on how season ticket sales are going

Yup, it should! I'll refrain from further off topic posts, at least until the next one!

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Footballfirst

Are all the dot counters on holiday?

 

No!  They seem to have removed a number of seats from sale in Section G, with the seats immediately next to the side wall unavailable.

 

a    67    

b    41    

c    6    

d    1    

e    25    

f    30    

g    86    256

==========

h    80    

j    8    88    

==========    

n1    0    

n2    4    

n3    85    

p    16    

q    9    

r    8    

s    15    

t1    32    

t2    6    

t3    83    258

===========

v    19    

w    4    

x    14    

y    20    

z    22    79

===========

Total    681

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